"The Insider's Guide to Living Kidney Donation: Everything You Need to Know If You Give (or Get) the Greatest Gift" offers nontechnical information and practical advice, and the multifaceted guidance that potential and past donors and kidney patients need. The book explains what to expect before and after the donation and helps recipients deal with the often-neglected, nonmedical aspects of their experience. Deciding to be a living kidney donor, or having a transplant, is much more than a medical decision. It presents emotional, financial, familial, and even social challenges. This book addresses all these aspects with accessible, thorough information and realistic advice that potential donors and kidney patients need. The book goes beyond providing life-changing information for past and potential kidney donors. It speaks from the heart, and through the authors' experiences. Carol Offen donated to her son, and Betsy Crais received a kidney from a colleague. This book includes their own candid, moving accounts, along with thought-provoking chapters from others who have been personally or professionally involved in this remarkable process. Living donation is crucial to reducing the typically several-years-long wait for a deceased-donor organ and the tragic loss of life for those who don't get one in time. This book demystifies the live-donation process by providing all the information that anyone needs to make an informed decision. "Every step of living donation is explained in a simple yet informative way. The Guide is easy to follow and provides information on the preparation and testing required to donate....This book is an incredible tool for individuals at any stage of the transplant process....In addition to answering many questions that potential donors may have, the Guide also includes Carol (donor to her son) and Betsy's (two-time organ recipient) stories." — TransplantNATION Magazine "This book is an absolute must for anyone touched by kidney disease. Along the lines of Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain, it is a joy to read, gives you practical knowledge and personal stories, and once you finish it you have a greater understanding of the beautiful world of transplantation." — JOSHUA D. MEZRICH, M.D., author of When Death Becomes Life: Notes of a Transplant Surgeon "This book is completely unique in the field of Kidney Transplant Books. What makes this book so special is it comes from two very experienced people, one a kidney donor, one a kidney recipient.The information in the book is not only based on top-notch, up-to-date research, but there are numerous, invaluable references to lessons learned from personal experience. There are great stories of other people's experiences as well. These insiders' points make the book a genuine treasure!" — JAMES MYERS, kidney recipient, 2019 NKF Advocate of the Year "How to describe this exceptional book? Maybe as the layman's encyclopedia of living kidney donation. No, their chosen title does it best. It is a good summary of everything one needs to know about living kidney donation, written to be easily understood by non-medical readers, family, candidates, and potential donors. If it were in my power, I would make this book a handout in every kidney transplant program when the patient and family first consider the too often daunting subject of a kidney transplant..... "As a book reviewer of literally hundreds of transplant-related books, I found this read to be unique and a much-needed resource for the ever-growing patient population challenged with the need for a kidney transplant." --Jim Gleason,TRIO president; author, A Gift from the Heart Carol Offen is a writer and editor whose varied career has included turns as a freelance writer for major publications, including Esquire, Vogue , and the International Herald Tribune ; an author ( Country Music: The Poetry ); a book editor; and an editor of health-related materials for a nonprofit research institute. In 2006 she donated her kidney to her adult son and has been passionate about encouraging living donation ever since. She has written numerous articles and blog posts (kidneydonorhelp.com) on the subject and was the lead author of a "Patients' Foreword" for a major textbook for transplant professionals, Living Kidney Donation . As a National Kidney Foundation advocate and UNOS Ambassador, she's lobbied members of Congress and state legislators to advance support and protections for living donors and kidney patients. Born and raised in New York City, since 1985 she has lived in Carrboro, North Carolina, with her husband.   Elizabeth (Betsy) Crais is a university professor/researcher in speech and hearing sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she has spent most of her career. Her specialty area is young children with autism spectrum disorder, and she has been widely published both in academic publications and in books for a lay audience. She was diagnosed wit